Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - speaker

(speakers) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. A speaker at a meeting, conference, or other gathering is a person who is making a speech or giving a talk. Among the speakers at the gathering was Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady... He was not a good speaker. N-COUNT 2. A speaker of a particular language is a person who speaks it, especially one who speaks it as their first language. ...in the Ukraine, where a fifth of the population are Russian speakers... The Department has a growing section which teaches English to speakers of other languages. N-COUNT: n N, N of n see also native speaker 3. In the parliament or legislature of many countries, the Speaker is the person who is in charge of meetings. ...the Speaker of the Polish Parliament... Mr. Speaker, our message to the president is simple. N-PROPER; N-VOC: Mr/Madam N 4. A speaker is a person who is speaking. From a simple gesture or the speaker’s tone of voice, the Japanese listener gleans the whole meaning. N-COUNT: usu the N 5. A speaker is a piece of electrical equipment, for example part of a radio or set of equipment for playing CDs or tapes, through which sound comes out. For a good stereo effect, the speakers should not be too wide apart. = loudspeaker N-COUNT